Abstract
Branched nanostructures have attracted significant attention due to their potential applications across diverse fields. Precise control over branched morphology is essential for enhancing their functionality, yet it remains a considerable challenge. In this work, in-situ liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy (LCTEM) is employed to investigate the controllable growth of seaweed-like iron oxide branches in the presence of charged gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) within an organic solution. In contrast to the conventional tip-splitting behavior observed in the absence of Au NPs, the branches exhibit directional and accelerated growth toward the Au NPs without further splitting. Finite-element analysis reveals that the local electric field between the charged Au NPs and the branches promotes reactant aggregation at the branch tips, thereby driving their directional and accelerated growth. This study provides insights into the growth mechanisms of seaweed-like nanostructures and highlights the potential of local electric fields for morphological control of branched structures.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No.2022YFB4400100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.12234005, T2321002, 12574298, 12204422), the Key R&D Program of Jiangsu Province (BE2023009-4), the New Cornerstone Science Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2023TQ0312). H.Z. acknowledges the support of U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Materials Sciences and Engineering Division under Contract No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231 within the in-situ TEM program (KC22ZH). The work at the Molecular Foundry of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
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W.W., H.Z., T.X. and L.S. supervised the project. M.Z. and T.X. performed in-situ TEM experiments; M.Z., J.S. and Y.Y performed TEM image processing; M.Z. and W.W. performed the simulations; M.N. and H.H. participated in data analysis. M.Z. and W.W. co-wrote the manuscript with all the authors contributing to the discussion.
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Zhou, M., Wang, W., Sun, J. et al. Accelerated directional growth of seaweed-like iron oxide branches driven by localized electric fields of gold nanoparticles in liquid. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71352-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71352-9
